I had a little trouble finding the place because Google Maps sucks my butt. Good thing I was fairly familiar with the area or I would still be driving around trying to find the place! I got there a little early to pick up tickets and check out the arena. They played at an indoor roller hockey arena that had floor seating, as well as an upper viewing area. Shortly after I got there, I noticed Phyllis Smith, the actress who plays Phyllis Vance on The Office. I remembered that she is from St. Louis, but I really wasn't expecting to see her at a roller derby match!
The girls warming up before the bout started.
Some of the floor seating. This was the M-80s cheering section where Phyllis sat.
The upper deck viewing area.
Actress Phyllis Smith from The Office.
After George and John arrived, we headed down to the track to take our seats. We tried to get as close as possible, but we weren't really willing to sit on the floor right next to the track like some people were. This being my first roller derby match, I preferred not to have some hard-core derby girl fly out of bounds and land in my lap. Or elbow me in the face. We were still pretty close, but I did have a tall guy in front of me who kept moving his head back and forth like a chicken. Which didn't make any sense because he was in the FRONT ROW! So, I had to bob and weave myself to try to look around him. I felt bad for the poor people behind me.
I've now decided that I need to get myself a Roller Derby name. (Any suggestions?) As they were announcing all the girls, I was loving some of their choices. Davey Blockit, Dali Madison, Midwife Crisis, Polkadot Yr Eyeout (my favorite), Eva Lasting Jawbreaker, Julia Ghoulia, Killer Tomato and the list goes on. I saw one chick from a different team that was Smarty McFly and her number was 1.21 gigawatts. Love it. Even the referees had fun names: Magnum P.I.M.P., Fojammi, Percy Control, Boba Ref. The Smashinistas (or Smashies) were dressed in brownish green shirts with hot pink lettering and and the M-80s were in red. Not as exciting. I liked the Smashies shirts and helmets better. Which was good, because we ended up sitting on the Smashies side. Not on purpose, we just didn't realize that the chairs were segregated. So, that's who we ended up cheering for.
Some of the Smashies.
Before I went to the bout, I tried reading up on the rules and regulations, but until you see it in action, it can be confusing. But, I'll relay the rules for you now (they were spelled out in the program), and maybe you can see some of it on the videos.
Five skaters from each team are allowed on the track at once. Each team has one scoring position called the "Jammer". Jammers are designated by a star worn on their helmet and start behind the other skaters. (The star is actually just a stretchy removable cap that fits over the player's regular helmet. The jammer is not always the same girl, so it has to be able to be swapped out quickly.) The other positions on each team are "Blockers". The lead blockers are called "Pivots" and they are designated by a stripe worn on their helmet (again, a removable cap.) Pivots control the speed of their team members. They also serve as the last line of defense against the jammer from the opposing team. The eight blockers, four from each team, make up the "Pack". When the first whistle is blown, the pack, led by the pivots, begins to skate. Jammers begin to skate when the second whistle is blown a few seconds later. Jammers then try to make their way through the pack. Blockers try to keep the opposing jammer from getting through while simultaneously trying to help their own jammer. On the first pass through the pack, the first jammer to pass each member of the pack while staying in bounds and without fouling becomes "Lead Jammer". Lead jammer has the strategic advantage of calling off the "Jam" at any time by placing her hands on her hips. Jammers score points by passing members of the opposing team, while remaining in bounds, on their second time through the pack and every pass thereafter. A jam lasts a maximum of two minutes or until the lead jammer calls it off. If a jammer laps the opposing team's jammer, she scores an extra point. This is called a "grand slam". There are lots of illegal moves along with penalty rules, but I won't list all of those here.
Whew, did you get all of that? It seems a little overwhelming, but after a gazillion or so "Jams", you get the general idea of what's going on. So, now that all the girls were introduced, the national anthem sung, it was ready to get the party started. We were positioned well to see the pack get set up each time. The first pass in front of us, one chick clipped another and down she went. Let the viciousness begin! Except...overall it wasn't nearly as vicious as we thought it was going to be. I expected to see elbows to faces, cheap shots to the ribs and tripping, but there are a ton of rules eliminating that type of stuff. Yes, there was shoving and all the good-natured rivalry, but nothing too fierce. Don't get me wrong, there was usually at least one or two girls on the floor during each jam. They weren't merciless, but they weren't timid either. Although to be fair, some of the girls just tripped over their own feet (that would be me).
The pack getting ready to start. You can see the two girls in the center with the stripe on their helmets. The far right is the Smashinista jammer getting ready to start.
And....they're off!
The bout consists of two 30-minute periods and I could tell by the end of the first period that the girls were starting to get worn down. I can imagine it would definitely be a good cardio workout! Fortunately, there are roughly a dozen or so girls on a team, so they can swap out on and off during the periods. The M-80s dominated the first half by claiming the lead jammer position most often. During half time, we were greeted with some quality people-watching including a "Twist-off" competition by some fans. And some of the "Jeerleaders" aka interesting characters dressed in pink and camo trying to get the crowd revved up.
The second period was a little bit more brutal with the Smashinistas making their come back. Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough to pull out the win. The M-80s ended up with the win of 114-78. I'm not sure what the normal scores look like, but that seemed pretty impressive to me!
The final scoreboard. It lists the overall score, the individual jam points, the period time remaining and the jam time remaining.
Between the timeouts, half time and all the jams, the entire bout lasted a little over an hour and a half. We had a really fun time, and it was pretty cool to see my first roller derby bout live! They have these bouts once a month, and we're definitely planning on seeing another one soon. Thanks to George and John for joining me.
I'm having some technical difficulties and the remaining videos won't upload. I'll try again later.
3 comments:
Did you come up with your roller derby name yet?
Ivana Humpalot, that's my suggestion for your roller derby name... uh thank you :) Oh behave!
This sounds so fun! I have to say I really like Mere's suggestion. ;)
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